Prior art amplifier designs provide either maximum output voltage swing or high output current capability, but not both. A Darlington configured amplifier stage accomplishes high current capability with low power dissipation, but it reduces the output swing by two V.sub.be. This is significant when the amplifier is being used on low power supplies (e.g., .+-.5 V). An up-down, or cross-coupled, amplifier circuit accomplishes a maximum output voltage swing, but the output stage of the amplifier must be operated at a quiescent current equal to the maximum output current divided by the minimum Beta of the output transistor(s). This increases the quiescent power dissipation of the amplifier. A Darlington connection is shown and described in the text "Transistor Circuit Engineering", by R. F. Shea, John Wiley and Sons, Inc. (1957) pp. 130-1; and, a typical prior art, cross-coupled amplifier is disclosed, for example, in FIG. 8 (Q27,Q29 and Q28,Q30) of an article by W. E. Hearn entitled "Fast Slewing Monolithic Operational Amplifier", IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. SC-6, No. 1, February 1971, pp. 20-24.